this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2024
515 points (98.3% liked)

science

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just science related topics. please contribute

note: clickbait sources/headlines aren't liked generally. I've posted crap sources and later deleted or edit to improve after complaints. whoops, sry

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[–] [email protected] 96 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Or several trillion very small problems.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 month ago (2 children)

We're all trillionaires! πŸŽ‰

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

~~Diamond~~ Plastic Hands πŸ™Œ To ~~the~~ ~~moon~~ ~~ocean~~ our bodies! πŸš€

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[–] [email protected] 72 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Studies have identified some of the main sources of microplastics as:

  • plastic-coated fertilisers
  • plastic film used as mulch in agriculture

WTF?

  • plastics recycling.

Uuuuh…

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 month ago (2 children)
  • plastic film used as mulch in agriculture

Wtf. Where and why?!

[–] [email protected] 65 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

It's the black plastic bag material that people used to cover their soil and poke holes through for their crops.

I never thought it was called plastic mulch though.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago (2 children)

It serves the same purpose as actual mulch, which is blocking out weeds

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Plastic was never meant to be recycled.

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[–] [email protected] 67 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Maybe global warming will melt all the microplastics into one big macroplastic and that problem will be 100% solved.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Biggest sources:

  • 7.6 Mt from macro plastics breaking down
  • 1.3 Mt from paint
  • 1.0 Mt from tyres

10-40 Mt released into environment/year, and increasing.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I'm kinda surprised that more comes from paint than tires.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think it depends on measure, if im not mistaken, by weight arohnd 50% of microplastics are tire dust.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

Also depends on where you’re measuring. They make up a ton of the plastics in stormwater runoff for example. Sometimes up to 95% from what I found. And that stormwater often ends up in our drinking water.

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[–] [email protected] 54 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Over 80% of microolastic production coming from macro plastic breakdown feels pretty bleak.

[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Plastics industry: "See?! We told you plastic decomposes and doesn't just stay in landfills forever. Happy now?"

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

I am not happy now.

[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The UN's Global Plastics Treaty is certainly a step in the right direction. I'm not sure what can actually be done about the problem, especially with how pervasive synthetic materials are throughout the world. And what is medicine supposed to do? Plastics revolutionized sanitation, particularly in the medical field. Very complicated issue to resolve.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 month ago (2 children)

There are certain industries, like medical, that would probably be one of the last, if ever, to do away with plastic, simply due to the upsides. The only option we have as a species is to create a truly biodegradable, non-toxic, easily obtainable and cheap to produce alternative.

Haha who am I kidding, we are fucked, plastic manufacturers go brrrrrrrrr.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (3 children)

a truly biodegradable, non-toxic, easily obtainable and cheap to produce alternative

Fungi.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Medical and electrical insulation. Two places where plastics are better than the alternatives.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 month ago (4 children)

A race to see what will kill the most of us first. The plastic or anthropogenic climate change.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Plastic-coated fertilisers?

Rally?

WTF do we need plastic-coated fertilisers for?

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago (1 children)

to grow plastic infused plants, of course

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

Now sit down and eat your plasti-corn. There are children in other countries that have to eat normal corn.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The article was very well written. Unfortunately, 90% of the people I’d forward it to would be TLDR…

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago

The 7000 papers were really well written. Unfortunately, 90% of the people I’d forward them to would be article…

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (2 children)

There are many reasons we are screwed as a species. There's pretty much nothing I can do about it, unfortunately.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I'll go jerk off for a bit, maybe it'll be better by the time I m done

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not much is going to get better in 12 seconds.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

It's my fourth time today, it's gonna be a bit...

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

Now you're speaking my language, come and shake my hand... actually, nevermind.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

take your time with it. make that shit special.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Rather than take a defeatist veiw from this line if thinking, it will do well for your mental health to first spend more time, energy and thoughts on things you can control. Not just things related to environmentalism, but broadly reduce energy, engagement and focus from the things you don't have significant control over and direct them to those things you do have control. It's good to get a broad picture and observe the world around you outside of your control in small doses, but it's easy to over indulge in an unfocused survey of problems in the world, especially on social media. (I include Lemmy communities in the social media category).

Furthermore, when you do engage with these problems, do so with more narrow focus and in more depth with an eye towards understanding the level of impact the problem has and what organizations or policy positions you can support to amplify your limited influence over the issues that causee the problem. In this way you can mitigate the feelings of helplessness and sense of there being many existential and imminent problems you need to contend with but cannot remedy. You can turn seemingly untouchable solutions into real possibilities without overwhelming your emotional capacity by working with others.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Can't we just inject ourselves with plastic eating bacteria or something?

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

We just need to turn up the UV lights voltage and melt the plastic out. Is that something we could look into?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago

We are the plastic eating bacteria.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (3 children)

So what does it do? Cancer?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago

In regards to humans, progress is being made. In coming years, expect greater clarity about effects on our bodies such as:

  • inflammation
  • oxidative stress (an imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants that damages cells)
  • immune responses
  • genotoxicity – damage to the genetic information in a cell that causes mutations, which can lead to cancer.

TL;DR yes, cancer. It also fucks with wildlife (blocking intestines, giving off poison)

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

It’s making men infertile. theres even a shortage of viable sperm today around the world

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Good chance it probably is, possibly increase chance for asthma, chance for heart attack, another is it probably makes us infertile probably a good thing depending how you think of it.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Is this stuff you know or are you guessing?

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

I find little shards of plastic in the vegetables from the supplier at work quite often. Sometimes I plate a dish and spot a bit of blue where it shouldn't be.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

Yummm, fruity pebbles

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

And yet doctors insist I'm not getting enough fiber!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (8 children)

Out of curiosotiy where would something like 3D printing be placed?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (2 children)

While a problem yes, miniscule compared to industrial waste

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